Former US President Donald Trump took advantage of a break in his hush money trial to hold a major campaign rally Wednesday — blaming his legal troubles and America’s ills on his election rival, President Joe Biden.
The former Republican president spoke while addressing, a crowd in Wisconsin.
“If we don’t win this election, I don’t think our country is going to survive. I will say it — and I’ve never said that publicly, I don’t think — but I felt it for a long time,” Trump told supporters in the city of Waukesha.
Trump who was due at a second rally later Wednesday in the swing state of Michigan, was using the events “to contrast the peace, prosperity, and security of his first term with Joe Biden’s failed presidency,” according to his campaign.
Returning to many of his favorite topics after a break from the campaign trail, he railed against Biden’s handling of the economy and immigration — while baselessly reviving claims that the president is behind the 88 felony charges he is facing.
“So I got indicted four times, and then I have civil trials — all coming out of the White House, everything, like a Third World country,” he said.
Trump regularly claims that his indictments — three for alleged cheating in elections and one for hoarding classified documents — are being orchestrated as part of a political witch hunt, but never offers any evidence.
The 77-year-old real estate tycoon used his rare day on the stump to remind the public of his preferred image as a confident, seasoned campaigner, far from the Manhattan courtroom where he is accused of covering up payments to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges, and the trial appears to have annoyed him no end.
“He hates being there in court, where he is just another criminal defendant,” political expert Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia told AFP. “He has no control and is not in charge.”
Biden’s campaign has not missed a chance to bait his opponent over his legal troubles.
AFP